Pineda suspended 10 games for pine tar

BOSTON – New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda was suspended for 10 games by Major League Baseball on Thursday for using pine tar to help him grip the ball.

He said he won’t appeal the penalty that will cost him two starts.

“I accept it,” Pineda said before Thursday’s game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. “I know I made a mistake.”

Pineda was ejected in the second inning of Wednesday’s 5-1 loss to Boston after umpires found the pine tar on his neck.

Pineda said on Thursday he didn’t feel the ball well in the first inning when he allowed two runs on four hits. And he said he wanted to be careful not to hit any batters.

“I know it’s pine tar, but the pine tar did not help me” throw harder, he said. “It helped me for feel, (get) a better grip.”

He also said no one told him to use it. He said he did it “by myself,” he said.

Pineda said he had never used pine tar before this season.

The ejection set off a debate in MLB about pitchers who try pine tar, and whether it should be allowed in certain circumstances. Many former aces said they had done it, albeit in a more discreet manner.

Rule 8.02(b) prohibits pitchers from altering the ball to gain an unfair advantage, and forbids them from having a foreign substance on them or in their possession on the mound.

Pineda wasn’t seen with the pine tar in the first inning, when the Red Sox roughed him up.

Boston manager John Farrell asked plate umpire Gerry Davis to check Pineda after two fast outs in the next inning.